Dairy-free Creamy Broccoli Soup

I am slightly lactose-intolerant and have a daughter who had milk allergies up until about 6 months ago so I try to limit our dairy as much as possible. The only problem is that I love cheese and cream and just about anything else dairy. It just makes things taste good! I love this soup because the cauliflower really gives it that creamy texture and it's simple and delicious to boot. It doesn't feel like I'm missing out on anything when I eat this and even my husband didn't notice there was no actual cream in this soup! He even went so far as to call it "tasty" which is high marks coming from him. Don't get me wrong, he is not particularly "picky"and will eat just about anything that I give him, but his preference is definitely rich and creamy.
I made a giant pot of this soup a few weeks ago when we received both broccoli and cauliflower in our Bountiful Basket. I packed the "leftovers" into freezer bags, labeled and froze it for later. It's a cold and windy Monday, so we will be having this for dinner tonight. I also started a batch of this easy bread to serve with it. Yum!

Dairy-free Creamy Broccoli Soup

1 head cauliflower
1 bunch broccoli (florets and stems)
5 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 small onion (about 1 cup, chopped)
1 large carrot
1 stalk celery
1 Tbsp chicken bouillon
1 1/2 tsp dried basil or 2 Tbsp fresh
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
water

Roughly chop broccoli and cauliflower and add to a 5qt stockpot. Add potatoes, onion, carrot and celery. Fill pot with water about 3/4 way to top of vegetables. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until broccoli is soft. Transfer all but about 2 cups vegetables to your Vita-mix or blender and blend until smooth. Add reserved broccoli mixture and pulse until desired consistency. (You can add all at once to blender if you don't want any chunks in your soup.) Add pepper and basil and pulse until combined. Serve hot with crusty bread.

Daikon Radish Stir-fry

 In our Bountiful Basket last Saturday we got some Daikon radishes. I was excited to cook them up a couple different ways tonight for dinner. For our main course I made stir-fry featuring the little beauties and then shredded another into an Asian coleslaw salad. 

I'm not a big meat eater and when I cook a dish like this I really prefer it with no meat to detract from the other flavors. To me this was a perfectly satisfying main course, especially served over a bed of brown rice, but for my carnivore husband I grilled some chicken and added it to his plate.

Daikon Radish Stir-fry

Servings Size

• 
  

• 1 large daikon radish
• 1 large carrot
• 1 small bell pepper
• 1 medium yellow crookneck squash
• 1/2 small onion
• 1 stalk celery 
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 3 crushed garlic cloves
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 2 tablespoons miso
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon sherry  
• 2 tsp corn starch
• 2 tablespoons water

Directions:

Peel daikon and carrot and slice into 1/2 inch thick circles or half circles. Chop celery, pepper and onion. Slice squash into circles. Heat vegetable oil over high heat. Add vegetables and stiry-fry. Stir in garlic and red pepper flakes. Allow vegetables to slightly brown around the edges as you stir-fry and then add the remaining ingredients. Cook over medium heat, stirring often. When the liquid has boiled down by about half, combine the corn-starch, water and sesame oil then stir it into the sauce.

Apple German Pancakes

For the past several weeks Bountiful Baskets has been giving us 4-5 Granny Smith apples in our basket. I do love Granny Smiths- they're one of my favorites to just snack on. (I love slightly sour fruit!) The problem that I've run into though is that last month I bought an entire case of Honeycrisp apples and we've still been working on those. I feel like it's my duty to eat the older apples before the newer ones... So now we have an entire shelf in my refrigerator full of Granny Smith. I was browsing my friend's blog earlier today and
voilà Problem solved! Thanks Becca :)
It drives my dear hubby nuts, but I always mess with recipes. I can't help myself- so this is a modified version of the original from Cooking Light. I made two different versions: Healthy ... and not so much. To be completely honest- yes- the non-vegan version tasted better BUT the Vegan pancakes were still polished off by my very picky girls. So while I probably won't make the Vegan version on a regular basis, it's definitely going in my food storage recipe folder.

Vegan Apple German Pancake
Batter:
1 1/3 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 T sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp nutmeg
4 tsp unflavored gelatin
3/4 cup cold water
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp hot water
1 cup rice or almond milk
1 tsp almond extract (or vanilla if you prefer)
3 Tbsp olive oil
Apple Mixture:
1 cup sugar, divided
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
*2 cup peeled and thinly sliced granny smith apple (about 2 apples)
Remaining Ingredient:
powdered sugar to taste

1.  Preheat oven to 425. Coat bottom and sides of two 10" pie plates with cooking spray. Combine 1/2 cup sugar, cinnamon, and 1/2 tsp nutmeg; sprinkle evenly over bottom and sides of each pan. Arrange apple in an even spokelike layer in pans. Sprinkle with remaining sugar (1/4 cup sugar per pie dish). Cook apples for 8 minutes in pre-heated oven.
2.  While apples are cooking, prepare batter. Combine flour, baking powder, 1 T sugar, salt, and 1/8 tsp nutmeg in a medium bowl. In a seperate small bowl or (2 c.) liquid measuring cup dissolve gelatin into 3/4 cup cold water. When dissolved, stir in hot water and mix well. Add gelatin mixture, milk, oil, and extract to flour mixture and whisk until smooth. Slowly pour batter over the partially baked apples. Return to oven.
3.  Bake at 425 for 15 minutes, then reduce oven temperature to 375 (do not remove pancake from oven) and bake an additional 13 minutes or until center is set. Sift powdered sugar over the top, serve immediately. Makes 4-6 servings.
**If using food storage to make this recipe, use re-hydrated dried apple slices in place of the Granny Smith.

Yummier Apple German Pancake

Batter:
1 1/3 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 T sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp nutmeg
4 eggs, beaten
1 1/3 cup milk
1 tsp almond extract (or vanilla if you prefer)
3 Tbsp melted butter
Apple Mixture:
1 cup sugar, divided
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2 cup peeled and thinly sliced granny smith apple (about 2 apples)
Remaining Ingredient:
powdered sugar to taste

1. Preheat oven to 425. Coat bottom and sides of two 10" pie plates with cooking spray. Combine 1/2 cup sugar, cinnamon, and 1/2 tsp nutmeg; sprinkle evenly over bottom and sides of each pan. Arrange apple in an even spokelike layer in pans. Sprinkle with remaining sugar (1/4 cup sugar per pie dish). Cook apples for 8 minutes in pre-heated oven.

2. While apples are cooking, prepare batter. Combine flour, baking powder, 2 T sugar, salt, and 1/8 tsp nutmeg in a medium bowl. Whisk eggs into flour mixture- it will be lumpy and thick. Add milk, butter and extract to flour mixture and whisk vigorously until smooth. Slowly pour batter over the partially baked apples. Return to oven.

3. Bake at 425 for 15 minutes, then reduce oven temperature to 375 (do not remove pancake from oven) and bake an additional 13 minutes or until center is set. Sift powdered sugar over the top, serve immediately.

Vegan Crepes (or food storage), Food Storage Pancakes

I haven't had to have as many "food storage" meals this month as I'd thought would be necessary. Part of that is because I've been "cleaning" my freezers by using up all the meals that I've had stashed away in there. I like to make a fresh batch of freezer meals before school starts so I need the extra room. This has also given me more time to work on things like the quilt I'm making for my bed and all my other projects without having to worry too much about dinner. I have had some food storage-type meals though.. mostly breakfasts. Here are some of the recipes:

Vegan Crepes

1 1/4 c. rice milk *

3/4 c. flour

1/4 tsp salt

1 Tbsp cornstarch

1 tsp oil

1/4 tsp almond extract

1 Tbsp sugar

Combine sugar, flour cornstarch and salt in a medium mixing bowl. Add rice milk and mix until smooth.  Add oil and extract. Whisk vigorously until smooth. Drop by 1/4 cup into pre-heated hot pans. With the back of your spoon, spread batter around until very thin in the pan.

Cook each crepe about 10 seconds. Flip and cook an additional 5-10 seconds. Repeat. Serve warm with fresh fruit or syrup rolled into the center of each crepe.

*A note about milk in your food storage:

I like to keep rice milk in my food storage since it is shelf stable and good tasting (to me at least!). But you can use UHT milk (ultra high temperature) or evaporated milk as well. Or of course you can reconstitute some powdered milk and use that. My family can't stand the thought of drinking powdered milk so we buy a combination of UHT and rice milk for our food storage. The rice milk is for myself and my 3-year-old who has milk allergies and the UHT is for the rest of the family. The best price I've found for rice milk is at Costco where we buy it by the case for around $15/case. It's still about $5 per gallon though so it really comes in handy knowing how to make rice milk yourself.. which is ridiculously cheap. The UHT we usually get at Gossner's Dairy in Logan. It is usually about $3 per gallon and it actually tastes like milk so it's a great alternative to powdered.

 I do keep plenty of powdered milk in my food storage as well, though. It's great for baking and for my make-ahead mixes that I use so often. Not to mention it lasts a long time when kept correctly.

Food Storage Pancakes

1 cup flour

1 Tbsp sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

3 Tbsp dry powdered milk*

3/4 cup water

2 Tbsp oil

for the egg:

 1 tsp unflavored gelatin (like knox)

 3 Tbsp cold water

 2 Tbsp plus 1 tsp hot water

Combine dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. In a seperate smaller bowl make your "egg" by combining gelatin with cold water until dissolved. Add hot water, stir. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Add oil, water and "egg". Stir until dry ingredients are moistened (about 30 seconds). Drop 1/4 cup at a time onto pre-heated griddle (med-high or about 375 F). Allow to cook until batter is bubbly and edges dry out. Flip and cook an additional 15-30 seconds until golden brown.

*to make this recipe vegan, omit the powdered milk and water and replace with 3/4 cup rice milk.

Vegetable Lasagna for the Crock-pot

It's still much too hot to turn on the oven so I converted this lasagna recipe for the Crockpot. For this veggie lasagna you can use any kind of vegetable. I used about 1 cup broiled eggplant, 1 cup steamed Swiss Chard, and 1 cup zucchini- all chopped and mixed together before assembling. You can also use shredded carrots, broccoli, mushrooms, tomatoes or whatever you like best!

Veggie Lasagna (in the Crock-Pot)

28 ounce pasta sauce
8-12 ounces lasagna noodles
16 oz part skim cottage cheese
3 cups lightly steamed vegetables
8 ounces part-skim mozzarella cheese, grated
1/4 cup shredded parmesan

Spread a thin layer of sauce on the bottom of CrockPot. Cover with a layer of noodles (3 or 4 noodles should be enough). Spread 1/3 of the cottage cheese over the pasta (you can use a cake spatula). Spread 1/3 of the remaining pasta sauce over the cheese. Spread 1/3 of the vegetables over the sauce. Sprinkle 1/3 of the mozzarella over the veggies. Repeat twice starting with the noodles and ending with the mozzarella. Sprinkle parmesan on top. Cover and cook on Low 4 hours. Remove cover and allow to stand 5-15 minutes before serving.

To prepare eggplant:

Cut eggplant in half lengthwise then slice into 1/4 inch slices. Brush with olive oil and sprinkle 2 Tbsp lemon juice and dried basil (if desired)on top. Put under a hot broiler for 8-10 minutes until eggplant is golden brown. Chop into bite-sized pieces.
 
*You can use any lasagna recipe in the Crock-pot. Just don't pre-boil the noodles and assemble as usual. Cook on low for 4 hours.

Vegetarian fajitas

My diet has been going well. So far I've lost the 3 of the extra 4 pounds I gained last month. And also I haven't spent very much of my grocery budget. I'm thinking maybe I'll be able to stay under my $250 afterall. I've been using some of the extra food that I cooked last month. For example, I used my veggie burgers in my vegetarian fajitas I cooked last night as well as a bell pepper that my neighbor paid me back with. (I gave her a pepper last month so she brought one to me this month!) The cilantro came from my garden. Also the ingredients for the tortillas and the sauce all came from my pantry so the only groceries I used that I had to buy this month were the onions and tomatoes.

Fajitas

1 1/2 large bell pepper sliced thin
1 large onion sliced thin
1 Tbsp chili powder
1 Tbsp ground cumin
1 tsp salt
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp oregano
1 minced garlic clove
2-3 veggie burger patties, sliced
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 tomato, diced

Add olive oil to large fry-pan. Allow to heat to medium hot. Add pepper and onion.You can add 1/4 cup water if needed to keep vegetables from sticking to the pan. When onions are tender add tomatoes and seasonings. Allow mixture to boil about 5 minutes for sauce to thicken. Add sliced veggie burgers last and stir just until warmed. Serve over warm tortillas. Garnish with chopped lettuce, cilantro, fresh tomato, cheese, salsa and sour cream if desired.

Sliced veggie burger- ready to add to the vegetables and seasonings.

Veggie Burgers

For the vegetables in these patties, I used 2 1/2 cups of the stir-fried vegetables that I cooked earlier this month. They've been in my freezer. It was a mix of cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, peppers, onions and mushrooms. You can use 1 green bell pepper, halved and seeded plus 1 onion, quartered and  1/2 cup sliced mushrooms as a substitute. Or use whatever you have on hand.

Veggie Burgers

Ingredients

1/2 cup uncooked brown rice
1 cup water
2 (16 ounce) cans beans, rinsed and drained
2 1/2 cups cooked vegetables
6 cloves garlic, peeled
3/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
2 eggs
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon garlic salt
1 teaspoon hot sauce
1/2 cup dry bread crumbs, or as needed

Directions

Bring the brown rice and water to a boil in a saucepan over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the rice is tender, and the liquid has been absorbed, 45 to 50 minutes.

Add drained beans and cooked vegetables to a 2 qt food processor or blender. Process until thick and pasty; set aside.

Place the brown rice and mozzarella cheese in the food processor, and process until combined. Stir the mixture into the black beans.

Preheat a cast iron skillet for medium high heat. Whisk together the eggs, chili powder, cumin, garlic salt, and hot sauce. Stir the egg mixture into the black bean mixture. Stir in the bread crumbs, adding additional bread crumbs as needed until the mixture is sticky and holds together. My vegetables were extra moist and I didn't drain my beans all the way, so I ended up using about 2 cups bread crumbs instead. Divide into large patties.

Spray skillet lightly with Pam. Place patties onto the prepared pan, and cook until browned and heated through, about 5-8 minutes per side.

 

To bake the patties: Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C), and lightly oil a baking sheet. Place patties on baking sheet, and bake about 10 minutes on each side.
 

I ended up with a lot of mixture. I used more vegetables than the recipe calls for and an extra can of beans. So I turned the remaining mixture into Veggie "meat"balls. Drop by teaspoonful onto greased pan and bake at 425 for 15 minutes. Use these in soups such as Minestrone or cook into some spaghettie sauce and serve over pasta for some easy pastafazool.

Oh! and did you notice the sprouts in the first picture? I've been sprouting my own seeds these last couple weeks. Pictured are sunflower sprouts (one of my favorites!) which are SO good. They take about 4-5 days to sprout so when you are using sprouts you do need to plan ahead. I've got 3 batches of sprouts going at once, all at different stages so I can usually always have some fresh sprouts available when I want them. If you get into the habit of eating sprouts everyday then you never have to worry about all your hard work going to waste. I love them on sandwiches and burgers instead of or in addition to lettuce. They have so much more flavor!

Home-style Macaroni & Cheese

Macaroni & Cheese

8 oz cooked elbow macaroni noodles

1/2 lb cheddar cheese, sliced or shredded

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup flour

2 cups milk

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

*additional seasonings, or add-ins if desired

In medium saucepan, melt butter completely over medium heat. Add flour, salt and pepper whisking in briskly. When flour is completely incorporated, add milk. Whisk constantly. When mixture is gravy-like consistency add 1/2 cheese (2 cups shredded) reserving other half for later. Stir constantly while cheese melts- Remove from heat. Add noodles to a 2-qt casserole dish. Pour cheese sauce over noodles and stir until combined. Top with remaining cheese. Bake at 425 for 10 minutes until cheese is melted and bubbly. Serve with green salad and garlic bread.

*Some things to add to make it tastier (Add these when combining sauce & noodles): 1 chopped onion, Sautéd; 4 slices cooked, chopped bacon; 1/2 lb cooked, crumbled sausage.

Also, I usually add 1/2 Tbsp ground cumin, 1 tsp red chili powder, 1/2 tsp garlic powder and a dash of cayenne when I add the salt and pepper.